Back to proper bathrooms for NCL’s new Breakaway cruise ship cabins

New designs for cabins on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s two new ships – codename Project Breakaway – have been revealed, and they show that the company is prepared to learn from its mistakes.
They won’t actually accept that the open plan bathrooms on Norwegian Epic were a mistake – ” I don’t think we’ve heard a word of negative commentary

[on the bathrooms] from anyone in six or nine months,” chief executive Kevin Sheehan told USA Today’s Cruise Log – but traditional-style bathrooms with doors that close will be the order of the day on the new ships to be launched in 2013 and 2014.
The vessels, to be constructed at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Germany, will each carry approximately 4,000 passengers and this week’s announcement was about the 1,024 balcony cabins and 238 mini-suites. We’ll have to wait until next month for news of the top-end Courtyard suites and villas, and the cabins for singles which have been a popular feature on Epic.
So what have we got so far? Sheehan says “”The overall design theme for Project Breakaway’s staterooms is’modern boutique hotel meets the sea.’ We wanted an ambiance that is warm and inviting, and has a very contemporary feel with clean, modern lines.
“We also want to maximise the use of space within the staterooms, so our guests are as comfortable as possible and storage space is well planned throughout.”
Hence the cabins (top), drawn up by London designers Priestmangood, working with Tillberg Design of Sweden, slot together with a wide section for the bed and a narrower area for the sitting space. Out have gone the curving walls which were another point of difference on Epic.
Each balcony stateroom has a king-size bed that (which can be split into twins), with a leather headboard. There’s a lighted recess above the bed to hold books, magazines, iPads and Kindles – which every passenger will no doubt travel with. A 26-inch flat screen television is mounted on the wall and tilts so it can be seen from the bed or sofa.The balcony bathrooms (above) have plenty of storage space and a decent-sozed basin – neither of which was part of the design of the Epic cabins – and a “private shower” with a shaving bar (copied from Celebrity’s Solstice-class ships) for the ladies who need to keep their legs smooth.
The mini-suites (below) have oversized spa-like showers with a rain-shower head and multiple body spray jets, along with a separate handheld shower head.
NCL will reveal additional stateroom category designs on its Facebook page in July. Cruises on the first ship are scheduled to go on sale in October.
More information at www.ncl.co.uk/project-breakaway.